Company: Instinct Dancecorps / SCC Dance
Choreographer: Kim Davis
Performers: Seth Abkemeier, Jay Garcia, Elva Howard, Maddie McDonald, Lexi Montoya, Kaylee Phipps
Understudies: Camila Maldonado, Caroline Young
Fraying at the Edges opened with a male/female duet who delivered a convincing, emotional engagement – the dancers seeming to melt in and out of each other. The connection was amplified by a hint of contact improv and was satisfyingly sustained throughout the routine, broken only by the entrance of the ensemble.
The ensemble was engaging. There was some very credible movement on display with new couplings and random interchanges that shifted the focus (purposely I thought), to these new characters. This middle section was nicely performed and interesting to watch, but I think it was ultimately flawed in the sense that it shifted the audience’s attention away from the two leads and left us wondering what their relationship was to this new activity. The connection was lost and I was entirely unprepared for the ending with its dramatic group carry, bearing the female lead off to – what? – and abandoning the male lead – why?
From my perspective, Fraying at the Edges had a compelling, emotional first act, a dramatic finale and a muddled middle. I’m not sure what choreographer Kim Davis intended here. The performers in the ensemble kept it visually interesting, but the connective thread was lost.
My experience of this piece was mixed.
In a talk-back session it was revealed that the female lead was in some distress and was being comforted by her male counterpart. The program title, Fraying at the Edges, would seem to support this. However, from the darkness of the theater and our distance from the performers, with no explanatory storyline in a program – all we have as an audience is what is on the stage, and from this perspective, anguish and passion can look very similar. With no other frame of reference, I read this as passion. The emotional connection was convincing, the female lead melting into her partner’s arms and clinging to him through a varied and lovely sequence.
Perhaps repeated viewings would reveal more to me but with live performance, that is not an option. It is in the air, and it’s gone – and all you have is that momentary perception, which is what I am relating here. To do otherwise would be insincere.
I thought that this was one of the best performances this company has given. My issues with the choreography aside, any audience less obsessed than myself with continuity and character and emotional arcs would justifiably be very pleased with the performance, consider their money well-spent and leave it at that. These young dancers, still students, still learning, are now sufficiently evolved that they can occupy whatever that next level is. They have not only proven themselves capable but worthy of excellent choreography and I sincerely hope that it will continue to find them.
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